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Felix Rieseberg, an Anthropic hiring manager who has led Claude Cowork and Claude Desktop, says his team has stopped asking software engineering candidates coding questions. The change is tied to the team’s conclusion that data-structures-and-algorithms interviews provided no useful signal; the report does not establish that Anthropic has ended coding interviews companywide.
Anthropic hiring manager Felix Rieseberg says his team has stopped asking coding questions of software engineering candidates after concluding that data-structures-and-algorithms interviews yielded no useful hiring signal. The change, reported by The Pragmatic Engineer, concerns the team Rieseberg has led on Claude Cowork and Claude Desktop; it is not evidence that the company has removed coding interviews across all teams.
In the report, The Pragmatic Engineer describes the decision as a team-level change within the frontier AI company. Rieseberg’s group had been using coding questions as part of engineering recruitment, but concluded the exercises did not help assess candidates in a meaningful way. The account does not specify how many candidates or interviews informed that judgment, or when the team first made the change.
The report frames the interviews at issue as DSA exercises—questions about data structures and algorithms—rather than every possible form of technical assessment. It does not say the team has stopped evaluating engineering ability, nor does it detail what assessments or hiring criteria have replaced coding questions.
The Pulse suggests that other Anthropic teams and AI-native startups could follow, but presents that as a possibility, not a confirmed policy shift. No companywide announcement or formal change to Anthropic’s recruitment guidance is included in the source material.
How AI Changes Hiring Signals
The decision highlights a practical question for engineering employers: whether traditional interview exercises still predict how candidates will perform in roles shaped by modern tools, including AI assistants. If a team believes its coding questions do not distinguish candidates effectively, dropping them could change what applicants prepare for and how employers assess technical skill.
That does not establish that coding interviews are broadly ineffective. The reported finding belongs to one Anthropic team, and the article provides no comparative hiring data or outcome measures. Its importance is as a concrete example of a team reconsidering a familiar screening method—not proof that the industry has reached a consensus.
For candidates, the immediate implication is limited: applicants to this team may no longer face the described coding questions, but the source does not set out the rest of the process. Other employers, including other teams at Anthropic, may continue to use coding exercises or different technical tests.
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A Team-Level Recruiting Change
The Pragmatic Engineer’s The Pulse is a series covering developments in technology companies and startups. Its item on Anthropic focuses on Rieseberg, described as a hiring manager who has led work on Claude Cowork and Claude Desktop. The report attributes the recruitment change to his team, rather than to Anthropic’s overall hiring organization.
The distinction matters because a team’s interview practice can change without a company adopting a single standard. The source says the group removed DSA interviews from its engineering recruitment process after finding they provided zero signal. It does not describe the team’s previous interview format in detail, identify a replacement, or say whether this decision followed a wider review of hiring practices.
“A team at the leading frontier AI company gets zero signal from DSA interviews and so has removed it from the engineering recruitment process.”
— The Pragmatic Engineer, summarizing the team’s conclusion
Scope and Replacement Tests
Anthropic’s companywide policy is unknown. The source identifies a team-level change and does not report that the company has instructed all engineering groups to remove coding interviews. It also gives no indication that other teams have adopted the same approach.
The report does not explain what the group uses instead, how it measured the interviews’ usefulness, or whether its conclusion applies to every kind of coding assessment. There are no details on hiring outcomes before and after the change, candidate feedback, or the number of interviews reviewed. Those gaps limit what can be concluded about the broader value of coding interviews.
Whether Other Teams Follow
The next development to watch is whether Anthropic makes a broader change to engineering recruitment or whether the practice remains specific to Rieseberg’s team. The source material names no company announcement, implementation schedule, or planned review of the policy.
Further reporting could clarify what assessments the team now uses, how it evaluates candidates, and whether other AI-focused companies are making similar changes. Until those details emerge, the confirmed development is narrow: one Anthropic team has dropped DSA coding questions because it found they offered no useful signal.
Key Questions
Did Anthropic end coding interviews across the company?
No. The report describes a team-level decision by a group led by hiring manager Felix Rieseberg. It does not confirm a companywide policy change.
Why did the team stop asking coding questions?
The Pragmatic Engineer reports that the team found data-structures-and-algorithms interviews provided no useful hiring signal. The source does not give the team’s measurement method or supporting outcome data.
Does this mean Anthropic no longer tests candidates’ technical skills?
The report does not say that. It says the team stopped asking coding questions; it does not describe the rest of the interview process or any replacement assessment.
Could other companies adopt the same approach?
The Pulse says other Anthropic teams and AI-native startups could follow. That is a possibility raised in the report, not a confirmed decision by those organizations.
Source: newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com
